United Nations 2008 The United Nations will celebrate the International Day of Peace on Friday, 19 September 2008 The observance at United Nations Headquarters in New York will begin with the annual Peace Bell ceremony in the Japanese Garden on the UN compound. The Secretary-General will ring the Peace Bell to open the ceremonies. 9:30 AM - The United Nations Secretary-General, the President of the UN General Assembly, United Nations Messengers of Peace, the diplomatic corps and students will gather for the ceremony. The students will bear the flags of the United Nations and all the Member States (all of the planet’s 192 nations). 10:00 AM - The Peace Bell ceremony will be followed by a conference on Peace and Human Rights, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights. More than 700 middle and high school students from New York and the environs will be connected via satellite to young people at the UN peacekeeping missions. Students will interact with Messengers of Peace, and discuss topics with the Messengers. The Messengers are TBA, but in the past have been Jane Goodall, Elie Wiesel, Michael Douglas, George Clooney, Princess Haya. Midori Goto. This dialogue will be video broadcast to include students gathered in New York and in countries where there are UN peacekeeping operations. There will be a text messaging campaign where people will text a message for peace that will be collected and delivered to world leaders gathered for the General Assembly in September. Please see www.peaceday2008.org for codes. NOON - As is tradition, the Secretary General will conduct a Minute of Silence. People will pause for the minute of silence at noon around the world, creating a wave of peace as noon passes through each time zone. All of the activities will be broadcast from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM (EST) at www.un.org/webcast The conference will close with the Children’s Flag Ceremony, presenting each of the worlds 192 nations’ flags and blessing each nation with “May Peace Prevail in ” www.peaceday2008.org www.worldpeaceemerging.com 13

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